This paper is a very comprehensive assessment of current status of gender differences in multiple learning outcomes including (a) mathematics literacy, (b) science literacy, (c) reading literacy, and (d) civic education, based on the recent data (1997 to 2007) from several regional and international student assessments: 1. Latino Americano Laboratorio de Evaluacion de La Calidad de La Educacion (LAB) (focusing on Latin America) 2. Programme d’Analyse des Systèmes Educatifs des Pays de la CONFEMEN (PASEC) (focusing on Francophone Africa) 3. Southern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) (focusing on Southern and Eastern Africa) 4. Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 5. Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 6. Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). 7. Civic Education Study (CivEd) The overall purpose of this research is to identify where the greatest challenges are in reducing gender differences in education from a global perspective. This goal is achieved by examining gender differences within and between key school subjects. For within school subject analysis of gender differences, the research question deals with whether the degree of gender differences is the same across grade levels, across geographic regions, and between developed and developing countries. For between school subject analysis of gender differences, the research question deals with whether the degree of gender differences is the same across school subjects. A key theoretical framework is adopted as an attempt to understand gender differences in multiple school subjects as unearthed in this research. This theoretical framework comes from school effectiveness that emphasizes schools and teachers as critical factors in understanding gender difference (e.g., King & Hill, 1993; Lloyd, Mensch, & Clark, 2000). Within this theoretical framework are two key elements, school policy and classroom practice, that relate closely with gender differences. This research takes the following positions within these policy and practice elements: (a) access as the centerpiece of school policy (e.g., Finn, 2004; Finn, Gerber, & Wang, 2002) and (b) differential treatment as the centerpiece of classroom practice (e.g., Fennema, Peterson, Carpenter, & Lubinski, 1990; Gambell & Hunter, 2000). Operating in an overarching manner across school policy and classroom practice is gender stereotypes as the broader social factor (e.g., King & Hill, 1993; Swetman, 1995). This theoretical framework provides tentative explanations of gender differences observed in this research.

This research combines data analysis and evidence synthesis techniques. Some large-scale comparative assessments have already analyzed gender differences across grade levels, school subjects, and participating countries. To link these assessments together for the purpose of cross-assessment comparison, a common effect size needs to be calculated. This research relies on standard deviation units as such a common measure to synthesize gender differences across grade levels, school subjects, and participating countries from multiple assessments. For other large-scale comparative studies, gender differences have not been examined as an unique educational issue. For these studies, data analysis is performed to quantify gender differences across grade levels, school subjects, and participating countries. Multiple regression correlation (MRC) techniques are used to quantify gender differences (Cohen & Cohen, 1983). In some cases where large-scale assessments contain both student and school sample weights, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) techniques are used to quantify gender differences (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002).

Four major themes have emerged to help identify the greatest challenges in reducing gender differences in education facing the global community. The first theme is that girls have kept their advantage in language across all regional and international student assessments, with the female advantage not only widespread but also substantial. The second theme is that girls are catching up with boys in mathematics achievement with historical female breakthroughs (i.e., first occurrences in history) in this traditionally male domain in both regional and international student assessments. The third theme is that although boys manage to hold on to the male advantage in science, girls have gained ground, with historical female breakthroughs (i.e., first occurrences in history) beginning to take place in this traditionally male domain. The final theme is that there is an overall tendency for boys to achieve higher in civic education in the last year of secondary school.